We are saddened to report that Coach Barbara Barlow passed away over the weekend. Barlow, the first chairwoman of the Bergen County softball tournament, finished her career with 321 wins at Emerson and won sectional titles in 1990 and 1992. She was also a field hockey and basketball coach at Emerson. I was talking with one long-time coach last week about how Barlow was ill, and the coach said to me, not a lot of people probably remember Barbara anymore, but everyone owes her a lot. Well said.

More news, and an unofficial poll below…

I left a bunch of questions out of my blog about the Bergen vs. Essex Challenge blog, like why were the Wood-Ridge girls shouting Who Dat? at me. And what does happen when a girl hits a ball while standing on home plate? But that is now over. Today is a big day, we could see history today when West Milford coach Jim Dransfield and his team faces Passaic Valley. If West Milford wins, Drans will become the first North Jersey coach (and I believe the 10th in the state) to win 500 softball games. Starting next Monday, we will be running our new weekly polls and notebooks, but who says you can’t do an un-official poll after 4 days? Would I? Of course. I happened to look back at some old stuff today and saw that IHA was the pre-season No. 1 last year and they went wire to wire in 2009, ending as No. 1. This is the first poll in over a year that does not have them on top. Again, this is somewhat unofficial, I can’t reference this in the paper, but if I was doing a poll today …

1. Indian Hills 2-0 — impressive wins over Pascack and Angels to start the year, and they happen to play No. 2 this week 2. Paramus Catholic 2-0 — welcome to the NBIL 3. Old Tappan 2-0 — beat Mahwah and Pascack Hills, schedule starts to get tougher today with Ramsey and Lexi Knief, more on them in a minute 4. Pequannock 1-0 5. Wayne Hills 2-0 — a good test for them today against Lakeland 6. IHA 1-1 — I struggled a bit just where to put them, you never quite know what to do when a team falls, I think they rebound pretty well today against Clifton 7. Paramus 2-0 — two of the most impressive wins of the first (half)week over Morris Knolls and Glen Rock 8. River Dell 1-0 9. Pompton Lakes 0-0 — They dont move from the pre-season poll since they haven’t played 10. Pascack Valley 2-1 — I can forgive a loss to Indian Hills 11. Park Ridge 1-0 — big showdown with Cresskill Tuesday 12. Immaculate Conception 1-0 13. North Bergen 1-0 — a big year and NB coach Tom Eagleson could hit 500 wins too. 14. West Milford 1-0 15. Ramapo 1-1 — losing to Pascack Valley not a big surprise, close with Highlands is a bit more troubling 16. Ridgewood 1-0 — I texted Patti after hearing about their win over Passaic Valley, she said she was real proud of her girls 17. Hawthorne 1-0 18. Rutherford 1-1 — Goldsack girls are hitting well, lost to Millburn Saturday 19. Tenafly 1-0 — I think the Tigers are down in Florida now for a few games 20. Midland Park 1-0 — You know on GHT the other day, they asked me for a sleeper team in states, like a team that will get a low seed, maybe even be below .500 and then could go on a run in their section because they have a good P. I struggled to come up with an answer, but Midland Park fits the bill. 21. Westwood 0-0 not moving them 22. Ramsey 2-0 — Ok, so, two different people asked me where Ramsey was in the pre-season Top 25, people I respect…and maybe I missed the boat on them. Just seems like every April they start off strong and then injuries or slumps just take them down. But they have lots of talent. 23. Dumont 1-0 — I said they were No. 26, so they are in. 24. Emerson 2-0 — big comeback win over Verona 25: Cresskill 0-0

New in: Ramsey, Dumont and Emerson. Now out: North Arlington, I couldnt believe they lost to McNair; Saddle Brook is 0-2, and its probably been a long time since they were not in the Top 25, but they could be 0-3 after today and Pompton Lakes. Glen Rock put up a battle against Paramus before going down, but I still think the Panthers will be a factor in the B-PSL

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Darren Cooper is from Slidell, La., and is a graduate of Louisiana State University. He covers any North Jersey sport — including soccer, gymnastics, wrestling, swimming and softball — within walking distance of an ice cream parlor.View all of his posts

Mark J. Czerwinski has been at The Record since 1985, covering everything from high school sports to the NHL. Mark also writes The Record's weekly hunting and fishing column.View all of his posts

JJ Conrad joined The Record in January 2012 and graduated from Pace University in 2010 with a degree in Media and Communications. He's a 2006 graduate of Wallkill Valley High School in Sussex County, where he played baseball, football and basketball. View all of his posts

Brian Giuffra joined The Record in September 2010 after previously working there from 2007-2009 covering everything from lacrosse to fencing. He played football and lacrosse at Montclair High School and is a graduate of Elon University.View all of his posts

Greg Mattura has been a sports writer for The Record since 1989 and has covered everything from Little League to the U.S. Open. A Fair Lawn native, Greg graduated from Hofstra University.View all of his posts

Jim McConville has been covering high school sports in North Jersey since 1974 for the Ridgewood News. A graduate of Midland Park High School, he is also a member of the Executive Committee of the North Jersey Junior Football League.View all of his posts

Ed Mills has been at the Record since November of 1988 covering high school sports. A graduate of Columbia High School in Maplewood and Utica College of Syracuse University in Utica, N.Y.View all of his posts

Gregory Schutta joined The Record in 1987. He was part of the award-winning team that exposed the financial workings inside the NJSIAA. Greg covers boys soccer, wrestling and boys tennis.View all of his posts

Paul Schwartz is a practicing attorney in workers' compensation in Ridgefield Park. Since 1971, he has been a part-time sports writer at the Record and now covers track and cross-country.View all of his posts

Greg Tartaglia has covered North Jersey sports from football to bowling to volleyball for various local media since 2001. He grew up in Franklin Lakes and graduated from two BC’s, Bergen Catholic and Boston College.View all of his posts